CLIMATOLOGY. 95 



little grown above 200 yards. The highest field which I re- 

 member to have seen was above Aysgarth at a little under 300 

 yards, and upon the Hambleton plateau above this elevation it 

 succeeds so badly as to make it not worth growing."^" On passing 

 up the three dales of the west very few cultivated fields are seen 

 above Romaldkirk, Reeth, and Aysgarth, the western portion of 

 North Yorkshire being entirely a mining and grazing tract. The 

 western dales are celebrated for their short-horned cattle and 

 cheeses, Cleveland for its horses. In the Middle Zone alto- 

 gether there is probably under 20 square miles of arable land. 

 Upon the Hambleton plateau there are numerous fields at 350 

 yards and upwards, but I do not know of any which attain quite 

 400 yards. Here Oats are grown at the rate of 4)4 to 6 

 quarters per acre and Barley at the rate of 4 or 5 quarters, but 

 occasionally it happens, as was the case with some of the fields 

 in i860, that the grain does not ripen and the crop has to be 

 used for fodder. Potatoes and Turnips are also cultivated in 

 fields upon the plateau. In the western dales small patches 

 devoted principally to Potatoes may be seen up to 400 yards. 



Upon the Hambleton plateau the highest garden which I 

 know is upon the contour-line of 300 yards. Here Apples, 

 Gooseberries, and Red Currants are grown, and in the kitchen 

 garden Potatoes, Cabbages, Cauliflowers, Carrots, Beans, Red 

 Beet, Onions, Parsneps, and Pisiun arvciisc and P. sativum. I 

 know of only one good garden which is clearly within the 

 Middle Zone, and that is at 350 yards at Keld in Swalcdalc. 

 Here are grown Ajjples, Cherries, Gooseberries, Rasps, Red, 

 White and Black Currants, Strawberries, and two species of 

 Rhubarb, and in the kitchen portion of it Carrots, Turnips, 

 Peas, Beans, Potatoes, Cabbage, Cauliflower, and Broccoli. 



* Dr. James Stark places the limit of the Wheat region in Scotland at the line of the 

 Summer temperature of 56' Fahr. On the west coast of Scandinavia Wheat ascends to 

 the 64th, Oats to the 65th, Rye to the 671)1, and Karley to the 70th parallels of latitude. 

 In the South American plateaux the culture of grain ceases at a mean annual temperature 

 of 223^ degrees above the freezing point, in Switzerland at 9 degrees above it, in North 

 Yorkshire at 11 or 12 degrees above it, whilst in Scandinavia it is carried on where the 

 isotherm is at the freezing point or below it. 



June 1888. 



